In some of conventional vehicle disc brakes, a pads returning spring is suspended over radially outer sides of a pair of friction pads which are disposed on both side portions of a disc rotor for pulling the pair of friction pads in directions opposite to the disc rotor or in which they move away from the disc rotor when the brakes are released and hydraulic pressure is removed. As such a pads returning spring, there has been a pads returning spring including a bend portion which is formed by bending back a wire spring into a substantially U-shape or substantially V-shape, a pair of spring portions which extend from the bend portion in a direction in which they are spaced away from each other as they extend and friction pad engagement portions which project from distal ends of the spring portions towards the corresponding friction pads, wherein the friction pad engagement portions are installed individually in engagement holes which are opened in the radially outer sides of the pair of friction pads, and the bend portion is disposed over a circumferential outer side of the disc rotor (for example, refer to JP-UM-2552633-B and JP-2012-072830-A).
In a pads returning mechanism which employs a pads returning spring like those described in JP-UM-2552633-B and JP-2012-072830-A, friction pads are biased to be pulled from a disc rotor by the restoring force of the pads returning spring when the brakes are released and hydraulic pressure is removed over a period from an initial stage where the pads are totally new to a stage near a worn-out state (a pad replacement stage) in their service lives.
Meanwhile, it has been desired that when the wear of the friction pad exceeds a preset wear amount, for example, a wear amount just prior to the stage near the fully worn-out state (the pad replacement stage), the friction pads are biased to be pulled from the disc rotor in a more ensured fashion when the brakes are released and hydraulic pressure is removed so as to suppress the wear of the friction pads due to the drag of the linings.